Tag Archives: Sharps Swords & Sinister Spells

Still working on all the bells and whistles I want to prepare for Sharp Swords and Sinister Spells. Today’s little project my own little character sheet. Since the rules are pretty lite there aren’t that many differences. The one thing I did want to add is a Luck Track plus this serves as a little cheat sheet for the die chain. I know it’s pretty simple but but some folks find that extra little bit of reference handy. Enjoy.My Character Sheet

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I said I had another class in mind a couple of weeks ago and well here it is along with a bonus class. OK, so your first questions is why?
Well I wanted something with a slightly different vibe than the magic-user but didn’t exactly want a replacement cleric. So enter the Cultist (which fits the whole Sword & Sorcery vibe). The magic-user seeks out knowledge and bends the universe to his will. The cultist seeks out arcane power for gain. Like a cleric, The Cultist can change spells giving them more flexibility. But that power is at the whim of whatever elder god that the Cultist has taken a liking to. And that power can be pulled away at any time and the character is going to have to do something (probably something bad) to get it back.
As a bonus, I had a quick bit of inspiration and threw together a Barbarian too. Yeah, I know there’s the Warrior. But I wanted something again with a different feel than the core class. I fully admit these are both in the bleeding beta stage. I may revision or even throw to them side when I finally get around to running a game. But in the mean time here you go. Cultist and Barbarian
Til next time. Roll Dice. Have Fun!

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Getting back into the whole blogging thing. And one of the things I like to do is go back and find really cool stuff that isn’t exactly that new or the flavor of the day. So enter Sharp Swords & Sinister Spells (and it’s Addendum).

So what is it? First it’s a low magic game that leans more towards dark sword & sorcery than your usual high fantasy. There’s no non-humans or clerics and magic is dangerous and not a sure thing. So that’s the vibe. But if really wanted to you could add those.

Mechanically, it takes a lot from Black Hack (and its Hacks) as well as 5E D&D, DCC, and Fate. So it’s a simple light game that focuses on ruling not rules and “if you don’t like then don’t use it”. Those are two things that I just love.

There’s four Abilities: Physique, Agility, Intellect, and Willpower and three classes: Warrior, Specialist, and Magic-User. It uses the basic roll under an Ability score mechanic. Vocations are akin to “High Concept” in Fate and uses Positive and Negative Dice which is similar to 5E’s Advantage/Disadvantage mechanic. And the magic system becomes a push your luck type situation with player determining how powerful the spell will be and hoping to roll enough to pull it off. So yeah. That’s the basic stuff why I like this game and think it’s cool.

Now here’s the bonus content. Or at least that’s what I’m calling it. Because even if you don’t play the game, there’s some handy resources no matter what game you’re running a GM could use. From the core book, I plan using Complications for the upcoming resurrection of my DCC game. Plus there’s a pretty cool, Adventure Idea Generator in there. The Addendum is just filled with various charts and tables handy for a GM no matter the rule set they happen to be using.

All this goodness is crammed into a couple of tiny books. the Core Book is under 46 pages (plus character sheet and OGL) and the Addendum is 87 pages. But wait there’s more. The PDF’s are PWYW. The Core Book. and for The Addendum.

I don’t often do this but shortly after I grabbed the PDF’s, I just had to have some hard copies from Lulu. After lugging around various other tomes to play other games, it nice to have such robust but light and efficient game. It’s get a big thumbs up from me.

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I ain’t no scholar. I ain’t no academic. I’m not that smart or good looking. I’m just a guy who wants to roll dice and have some fun. This is my little blog featuring lots of old school RPG stuff and other RPG rants. Remember the cardinal rules. The rules are guidelines. Keep it simple. Roll dice, Kill monsters. Take their stuff. And have fun!

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Mise En Place is cooking term. Basically, doing all your preparation beforehand. And that's what I rant about this episode. Getting ready to run Advanced Labyrinth Lord and all the things I'm trying to get ready.

I rant about my "system neutral" DM Notebook and how it's important and it's important to clean the thing out every once in a while. Also, continue with the reading from the Little Brown Books. This time up: 1st Level Magic-User spells.